Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

There’s a blue sky but a storm’s brewing out at sea. Hear it in the modulating synths, the pictures painting words. Fairytale summer? There could be trouble ahead. Leave the light on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79bWsFwOZDg

If you like… Air Towel, Between Stars, Little Speaker, Trapped... then Imagine a Box belongs to you.

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Looks like a digital single release again this week. No free download.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

Yeah, i found it was up on streaming services before YouTube or the Facebook announcements. Seems like sometimes they have the episode ready and spring it early, whereas other tracks might still be in progress til deadline, hence a later-in-the day announcement and download.

Right, so...the synth is fun, and the vocals are fine (sort of a skym feel?) But, they clearly are not in the same key or melody. Gives the same impression as D5 ep.2, that two in-progress tracks were smashed together to see what happens. (I do this a lot with my own unfinished tracks, trying to make something epic out of halfway there tunes). Its distracting, unfortunately

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

Hmmm - not sure about this at all

Sounds very much like a discarded LP out-take (discarded for obvious reasons at that)

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

i think this is excellent. by my first impression from the teaser, it sounded like Schiphol Test with more punch to it - but it's more than that. it's quite chaotic with all the dissonant synths and Karl's echoed vocals. although his hums are really, really excellent here. i don't think the band has created anything like this before.

personally, the first couple of tracks in episode 5 have been underwhelming. i can confidently say that i've enjoyed almost all of the DRIFT material thus far, but the introduction to this episode has been incredibly challenging. Toluca Stars feels like a chore to go through with its little to no progression, and Mile Bush Pride faces the UoCWB film edit problem; it's too underdeveloped in its current form. Imagine A Box has revitalised my spark for this episode. i've now been waiting with no expectations (although i still crave for that acid techno Reykjavik promo :D) so i'm very curious to see where this episode will taken next

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

oh and i also forgot to mention the video- i've always imagined that there should have been a DRIFT film with the boys and the World of Underworld designs on Spotify combined together. amazingly, this video pretty much answers that vision! :eek:

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

Yeah, the first thing I thought was Skym.

I have no idea what to make of it at all though. It definitely feels unfinished. Odd song.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

I'm really digging this one.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

i quite like it, even if it doesn't feel wholly unique.

I also really like Mile Bush Pride and Toluca Stars. Both have gotten lots of play this past week.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

In another era I think we'd appreciate this one for being a neat little b-side. That's kind of a flaw in the Drift system; every track is being scrutinized as though it were a single or album track.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

i see what you mean, but ive been treating them as Riverrun/Random Works. The album will be the final result. I'm okay with half-finished tracks this way.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

Some really interesting chord changes going on here - a nice change from the "ranting over one chord for 8 minutes" formula they can often revert to. But yeah I agree with Holden that the vocals seem to be clashing harmonically with the rest of the song in places. There's definitely a great song in here that needs to be distilled down from this version.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

It's like a demo for Dino3D.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

I hear the key conflicts going on but I enjoy the tension of it because I'm not hearing much to grab onto overall. the track is... fine, but there's a lot implied in here that could take it far above "fine"
Karl's vocals, which are probably the most frustrating aspect of Drift so far, are really working for me here.
that sound they intro in the last 45 seconds could probably stand to come in and get built on halfway through the track?

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

the vocals don't mesh with the music.
it just sounds offkey.

might have worked with some changes in it.
and that weird chorus in it, no thanks.

later
-1

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

I agree that Karl's vocal has been the weak link in Drift, and I felt similarly about some of the tracks on Barbara Barbara.

The following is obviously just my interpretation and opinion, but I think latter day Karl's work has the tendency to be lackadaisical, saccharine, and simplistic. Not really the quality of his voice, as such (because his singing performance seems as good as it ever was), but the words themselves. It used to be that lazy journalists would describe Karl's role as "stream of consciousness" or "cut up" which is just a polite way of saying nonsense, but a listen to tracks like anything from Dubnobass pretty much through Oblivion puts the lie to that. But when he sings things like "blah blah blah" he's basically proving those critics' points.

The vocals and lyrics in Dirty Epic could not belong to any other music. But I think the case for many Drift songs is the vocals and lyrics could probably be copied and pasted into a number of backing tracks; with some notable exceptions they don't always feel crucial.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

I've noticed that too. I can't really listen to Low Burn anymore!

But this is a thing isn't it? I've seen more people earnestly argue in favor of enjoying a band's "boring late-period" albums, and that they don't really "run out of ideas" so much as distill them. Seems like when artists are around long enough, their insecurities start to invert, and they strive to say The One Right Thing instead of complicating it with extra dressing, but it ends up being indistinguishable from the banal to the audience.


here's a quote from the last David Berman (RIP) interview that jumped out at me:

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

I think EP5 should be the final EP, cos there are still 2-3 weeks (2-3 songs) til the end of EP5, and then 1 month remains til the album release. And they have to manufacture the record/box in time. So I hope we will get a tracklist for Drift Songs soon!

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

Yes, it would make sense that the last few weeks are just archival things, giving them time to manufacture it. Theoretically, the last track could be ready to go in around a week, meaning they are probably very close to having a final tracklist for the album already, which would definitely be enough time to get CDs pressed (normally a week or so). The boxset will take longer due to its very nature, which is why we're looking at a November release for that. Vinyl obviously takes a fair time to press these days, but if they've already booked the slot in advance, which I'm sure they have, then that shouldn't be an issue unless there are pressing problems.

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

remember the end of "Doot Doot" where Karl starts making random whooping noises? never thought they'd bring THAT back

Re: Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box
 

I think the footage of R & K in this video against the purple backdrop is from this photoshoot nearly a year and a half ago:

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